Fallout New Vegas: Finding Peace
by Suile Glas
Summary: Aponi was just another woman blazing her own trail with the NCR rangers. Koehali is an ex-Ranger that bears the guilt of her brother's death. When Aponi gets a strange letter from her sister she must team up with the mysterious man to find out what had happened. Follow through both eyes of these characters as they go through a wild wasteland adventure.
1. Aponi Setting out on Adventure

I was half way to the old gas station when I noticed an ugly cloud was drifting down from the sky. This wasn't any ordinary fog that was happening. Oh no it was filled with radioactive dust that still lingered even after two hundred years of the Great War. As I walked a little faster slinging my rifle back on to my shoulder to give me movement. I notice the cloud getting larger by the min. The Geiger counter on my wrist started beeping more rapidly now and that's when I bolted.

That beep can only mean one thing: this was going to be one heck of a storm. Time seem to slow as I dashed to the station. My steps felt heaver, my breathing slowed. That giant cloud now formed into a wall blocking everything with in a 300ft radius. I could feel the radiated heat coming from it even though I still a good 20 feet away.

I finally reach the door but it was jammed. Knocking my shoulder against the door a few times before it finally rattled loose. The cloud was inches away from me. I could feel my skin bubble up, and I was wearing my radioactive suit under my ranger uniform. The door swung open and I quickly closed it watching as the cloud finally engulfed my little enclosure.

I quickly surveyed the area, my .357 magnum out stretched. Walking a few feet in I turned on the heat signature from my ranger helmet, one of the many awesome features I had installed, and scanned the area. Nothing was moving so I holstered my gun and took off my helmet. I had forgotten to tie up my hair when I had started from Novac, so the mess of hair came jumbling down. I just whisked it here and there out of my face and walked towards the broken counter.

Going behind it I found the area relatively cleared already. Perfect for laying down a sleeping mat. Slipping off my heavy sack I unpack only a few items and unrolled my mat. Even though I had a great night sleep the other day, surprisingly on an actual bed, I knew the storm was going to be awhile. In the wastes you never knew when a radioactive storm was going to start, or how long it was going to last.

I decide to take my new time and begin taking inventory of all my items. After a few hours of wasting time I looked out the window and saw nothing but brown. So, checking my pip boy for the time, I decided to lay down on my mat and took a nap. I honestly never knew how to spend my time in these stupid dust storms. Normally I would be with a troop.

Even though being a Ranger they don't march with a troop at all. They actually don't even march into battle. We were assigned more or less secret missions by the NCR. We go into them by ourselves or with a few men. I had gotten promoted a few times in my service and actually train new Rangers coming in. But, this wasn't any secret mission I was on. I was on leave from the NCR going back home to Freeside.

I had gotten some disturbing news from my sister who took a more peaceful side at being a Follower of the Apocalypse. It wasn't as creepy as the name suggests. It was a small group at first but when the idea begins to spread so did the group. It was a group of people going out of their way helping others. There was thousands of medic clinics set up all over the broken country. They did detox and actually held classes for people in need. Helping them build skills for life, farming, hunting. Things like that.

My sister joined them after our parents died. Our older brother was in the ncr training to be a Ranger at the time, he had no idea how hard our lives became. I tried doing it as well. I've always liked helping people and had a natural learning ability, as well as being a great nurse.

I just didn't feel as strongly about it as my sister did, however. I wanted to go out into the world and see everything, like our brother was doing. After a few years of wasting away with the followers we got news from the NCR that our brother died in combat. My sister took it really hard, but never showed it. She just went on with her duties.

I couldn't stand it anymore. I left one day joined the NCR and never looked back. I worked hard at becoming a Ranger just like my brother. I wanted to finish his duty for him. I got transferred a couple of times and finally ended up at the Mojave Outpost as the trainer for the new recruit. I was doing this for only a couple of months when I received a letter from my sister at the Old Mormon Fort. It was short and to the point.

"I need you to come back home. We are having a lot of problems and could use your help.

-Kalynn"

She was never one for words but even this was disturbing. We haven't spoke for over five years. Yet she went out of her way to find me even after my multiple transfers. I knew I had to rush to her. So, I put in my leave and left the post. I was with a caravan up till Novac, that was their only stop and they turn around back to the Mojave Outpost.

When I first started learning the routes Ranger Jackson had set up I voiced my concern as these are dangerous. I actually had been on patrol on these routes myself. They were swarmed with wildlife that the caravan guards were not equipped to handle. But, the head Ranger said these were the safest routes. He wouldn't listened to me anyway.

When I passed Nipton on that route I found it razed to the ground by legendries. A lot worse than wildlife for sure. Thinking about all the crazy stuff that has happened in my life thus far made me finally tired enough to sleep. It wasn't long before I started hearing strange creaking noises in the gas station. I've always had been a light sleeper. But, whoever was in the station with me did not know I was already occupying the area. I also notice the storm finally stopped. So, I guess that's why this person was here. I pulled my magnum from my hip holster and quietly inched myself to the back of the counter. Taking a couple of breaths I jumped up, my gun in front of me.

"Stop there!" I yelled at the intruder with as much tenor as I could muster so I could make myself seem scary.

However, that all went poof in my head when I actually saw who was in front of me. This giant of a man stood will over a foot compared to me. He was rather built with some extra meat on him. That was hidden under the dark brown leather duster that hung loosely around him. My eyes gathered up to his face now, which was covered with thousands of freckles, but oddly it looked rather nice on him. He had giant almond shaped eyes, the color of a grey, foggy morning. He had a stern glare, his own rifle pointing down from his nose. But, his trigger finger was poised aside of it. This man was military. I slowly lowered my own gun to show I didn't mean harm.

"Hey, I found this place first." I informed him.

I would had just let the guy have it, but as luck would have it was night out. My voice quiver from the heat rising in my cheeks and I noticed my heart beating rapidly. What the hell was going on with me? He also lowered his gun when he felt no threat. That's when a smile danced across his face.

"The place is big enough for the both of us. You can stay in your area and I will guard the door!" He exclaimed in a joyful voice.

That took me back. I dropped my gun to my side and blinked a couple of times at him. My mouth went completely dry and for once I was lost of words.

"Um…" Was all I could get out.

"Great! It's settled then." He told me and went to the far end corner of the room.

I stood there watching him completely absorbing his good looks. And when he took off his duster my swooning was finalized. This man with his bare freckled shoulders and broad chest made my heart literally pump out of my chest. How could I tell him to get out now knowing what he looked like under that heavy coat? I must had been the luckiest girl in the world to have front row seats to a beautiful gun show such as him. He finished putting down his mat, which of coursed faced me, and sat down, back against wall arms lazily behind him. He smiled slyly at me and raised his eye brows at me. He knew I was watching him for that full 20 minutes; I wasn't counting promise, while he sat up his things. My face flushed at his teasing. Puffing out my cheeks I pointed a threating finger at him.

"I swear to god if there is any monkey business at all from over there I will…I um…will.. Be not so happy about it!" I scolded him and quickly sat back on my mat keeping my gun on my lap.

I heard him stifle his laughter. I dumped my head into my hands completely embarrassed for what I just said.

"I am such an idiot around men." I sighed lying back down and throwing my arm over my eyes.

After a while of silence there was the sound of a radio being turned on and soft acoustic guitar started filling the room. It was the old music from before. I knew this song even. Before my brother was enlisted he played the guitar for Kalynn and I to help us sleep. Lusio was a wonder on the guitar; he could play any sort of song that played on the radio. He had also found sheet music for many other songs they didn't air.

He had a nice singing voice also, but hardly ever sang. Normally he would make us do the singing. Kalynn hated singing so I would be the only one. It was a wonderful memory, in the summer we would go hang out at the corner next to the Old Mormon Fort, Lusio on guitar, me singing and Kay peddling for money. We became really large.

The crowds would flock in and the whole neighborhood would have parties and there was dancing. It felt like we were celebrities, always being asked to accept work by the casinos. However, my brother knew what they were like and always refused.

I couldn't help myself when the song "Johnny Guitar" came up I slowly started humming the guitar part. Closing my eyes I let myself go when Peggy Lee's voice came on I match my tone with her and sang along to the haunting slow music. I didn't hear anything else but her and me in harmonic balance.

I remembered the old times when Lusio was still alive, always looking for a new place to sleep for the night. He was always watching over us when my parents died in a gang shooting. There was always something like that happening in Freeside. He promised he wasn't going let something like that happen to us. He kept us away from pretty much everything. We weren't allowed to go out by ourselves.

He was the one who got a job working construction with the NCR. It was never enough though. Kalynn argued with him his money alone was never going to be able to sustain us. So, finally he agreed to let us work with the followers and then shipped out with the NCR military. He never told us why he decided to join with them. There was never a real reason from him to leave us. Lusio was never one to really talk about anything anyway. That was now about nine years since we last saw him. Sure he wrote to us as much as possible, but no matter how much we begged him he refused to come back. We could not figure out why.

The song finally died away and when I opened my eyes I found the man staring down at me from behind the counter. He had a big smile plastered across his face, eyes sparkling. I was so use to this kind of strange behavior from men in the military that it really didn't faze me. He looked a bit disappointed when I didn't do anything about his weirdness. I shrugged and turned on to my side my back facing him. Then I realize he might be checking out my butt. I quickly covered my whole self with my heavy wool blanket even though it was quite warm in the station.

"You know you have a beautiful singing voice? You sounded just like her." He finally said.

I turned around laid on my other side, staring at him. As I looked at him I realize he looked a little familiar.

"Haven't I seen you before somewhere?" I asked him.

The man stood up wide eyed, his face turned bright red which showed off the brown flicks more promptly across his face.

"Um no…pretty sure I've never met you" He said quickly and walked off back to his mat.

I sat there for a minuet wondering what that was all about. Shrugging my shoulders I didn't inquire anymore about it. I just laid back down on my back, arms behind my head. But it bothered me a little, I know I have seen the sweet smile somewhere. Those cheerful eyes. But where? Sighing I gave up on thinking on it, there was no point because I was going to be gone before dawn anyway. Checking my pipboy I noticed I still had around three hours before sunrise. I will get some more rest then head out. I don't need this guy tagging along with me.


	2. Koehali Reliving the Past

Looking down at this wonderful woman I could actually see a lot of the similarities between her and my best friend Lusio. I knew she was having a hard time coping with the lost, even after all these years. But right now singing that song, I could see that pain resurfacing. The stories Lusio told me about his sisters doesn't even come close to what their truly like up close. I got the pleasure of meeting the little sister a couple years back after Lusio died. That was a bad meeting. I still remember Lusio's death, and having to explain it to that little girl was one of the hardest things I had to do in my military carrier. And honestly with what I had to do in the Ranger corps would question your morels.

I will always remember the day Lusio died. His face in terror and pain. The smell of burnt flesh heavy in the hot summer wind. It was just a general patrol, nothing special about it. We were heading towards Nipton checking on a call we had gotten early that day. Of course we took it, anything to get away from Ranger Jackson.

The way to Nipton wasn't far at all. It would take someone an hour tops to get there that's how close the town was to the Outpost. But there was always something on the road to hinder the time. We were thinking it was just going to be the fire ants on the road. These weren't just normal fire ants though. Because of the radiation that had happened to the land it made everything evolve into horribly large sizes. Ants are still ants, though. Shoot them in their antennas and their easy to deal with. It wasn't ants that got us though.

Lusio heard the whistling of the grenade first. Pushing me out of the way it blew us both back a good few yards, but we weren't hurt. Springing into action, we ran over to a nearby broken down building for cover. Whoever was throwing grenades didn't have that many to spare and shots finally came next.

"Let me see how many!" I shouted at Lusio and looked up carefully.

There were three scraggly looking teenagers coming towards us. One with a sawed off shot gun, the other two only had 10mm pistols. Not very well kept either by the way they kept jamming up. I got back down signaling Lusio the enemy. Nodding in agreement we both jumped up I took out the one with the shot gun with a clean hit in the head. Lusio was to take care of the other two, but when he had jumped up he tripped over a rock and fell flat on his face losing his gun. Rolling my eyes I rushed over to him and dragged him back under cover.

"What the hell is your problem Lusio!?" I asked him a little annoyed.

Lusio was stoned face, didn't say anything back at me. He put his rifle on the low wall and positions the gun so that he was able to take out the guy on the left. He had grunted something back at me but could hear nothing over the firefight. Looking back in front of us, even more of these shooters were coming out of the building from across the street. There were at least five more of them. This time armed with better weapons and armor. I noticed an emblem on one of the shooters jackets.

"Lusio, look!" I yelled but he already knew.

"Yeah Jackals. This is going to be fun." He commented back.

He fished around on his waist and found what he was looking for. "Cover yer' ears!" He called out gripping the pin off the grenade, throwing it over our heads.

I watched as it flew right behind the people coming on to us and bounce a few feet away from the building. It exploded and oddly it made the jackals stop and stare behind them.

"Come on!" I jumped up, Lusio right behind me.

We started firing back at them while they were distracted. It helped a bit, but we were still out numbered. A few more of them were coming from the Ivanpah Dry Lake. These punks were still easy to take care of. They didn't have the military training that Lusio and I did. What we were lacking in was man power though. We were completely out numbered. I grabbed Lusio by the collar and we rushed back behind the broken building. Falling to the floor we sat there trying to catch our breath.

"What are we going to do?" I asked Lusio.

He normally had some good ideas to get out of situations like this. Lusio sat there looking down at his gun, brows wrinkled completely in thought. I didn't know how long this was going to take so I got up and slinked around the corner to check out why the gun fire ceased. The Jackals were standing around regrouped with the ones who finally came up from the dry lake. There was only seven left, because we actually took out two before they gunned us behind here.

I went back over to Lusio, "Hey, I think we can take them. There is only seven."

But there came this horrifying cackle and someone shouting

"Here they are, boss!" A few of them had rounded the building and we were cornered.

Lusio jumped up shot the one who gave way our position right in the head. I stood there for a moment watching Lusio shoot the men coming around the corner one by one. Sometimes when Lusio got into this mode it was an amazing site. It always stopped me dead in my tracks at how much concentration he can put into his fighting. And that's where I should had been paying attention instead of marveling him.

I heard the grenade whistling towards us. Lusio stopped to look up and was shot down from a sniper a few yards away. I quickly put up my own gun and found the snipers position by the glare from their scope. Now my attention was towards that grenade. It was only a split second but I watched it as it went over us and again barely a foot away from Lusio. Falling on him to keep him cover I felt the blast through my uniform and the derby splattering on us. Luckily it had landed in a sand pit and it just blasted dirt on us. Getting off of Lusio I didn't see any noticeable shots on him. I had figured him fine. Waving me off, he shook his head.

"Come on I think we got them." He motion.

I followed him out and we stood there scanning the area and Lusio motion ahead to check out the bodies. I walked to the building where the shooters were hiding at. However, with all that had happen I still didn't notice the last gunner. He came from the far side of the building, and I just barely saw him throw a grenade straight at where Lusio was kneeling, his back towards the shooter. I called out to him but it was too late. The grenade was up in the air long enough for it to explode behind him, only a few feet away. That I knew was going to do major damaged to him.

I turned to the gunner first to cover my base. He didn't even notice me. I charged him down and hit him so hard with the butt of my rifle that he spun and fell to the floor. Quickly tying him up. After that I was scared to go over to Lusio. But I needed to know he was ok. I put my rifle up on my shoulder and ran over to him. He was lying on his back covered in blood, eyes closed. My heart was in my throat but I noticed his chest was heaving and a gurgling noise was coming from him.

"Lusio!" kneeling down next to him at first I wasn't quite sure what I should do so I gently picked up his head and cradled him in my arms. "Lusio? Wake up brother come on dont do this to me."

I looked him up and down, He was banged up bad from the explosion. His breathing was slowing down and checking his pulse that was too.

"Lusio please don't, we're going to see your sisters in a month remember? Come on man you got to still introduce me to your beautiful sisters! Please man just open your eyes." I pleaded with him.

I couldn't hold back the tears. This man was my best friend, he was my brother. I needed him to wake up. His eyes flew open and he looked me square in the eyes. He had strength in his arms still that's for sure. Grabbing my shirt he pulled me down to his mouth so I could hear him.

"You…you need to watch them now….they have no one left….please…Koehali…." He coughed out, his eyes rolled back.

Slowly his breathing left his body till it was no more. I nodded in agreement with him as if he was still watching me. I knew he will always be watching over me for now on. Forgetting the mission I picked up Lusio's lifeless body and hiked back to the outpost.

As I walked back to the Outpost I reflected back at how we met. We found out we were from the same area. Well, sort of. I was from Westside. It was nothing like Freeside. Lusio never said much about his life back in Freeside. Said he did some bad things back then and needed to get a fresh start. After a while he finally loosened up one night. We were on patrol for the Mojave outpost; I had snatched some bottles of whisky from the barracks. We were sometimes slackers back then and would just go out a few yards set up a campsite and drink the night away. Lusio had beef with the radio and I never understood why till that night. I turned it on to the Mojave Music station.

Lusio of course grunted at me to "turn that shit off."

But he was already a little drunk and I knew he would be asleep in a minute. I just kept it on. After a while Lusio started singing to some of the songs.

After "In the shadow of the valley" ended I had to ask him. "How do you know all these songs?"

Lusio shrugged and looked up at the stars pondering his next choice of words. Lusio was always slow at gathering his thoughts. I waited patiently because after this long I learned that sometimes what he had to say was rather important.

"Back in Freeside, well first you should know I have two sisters I left back there." He stumbled over to me and sat down on the mat, slouching a little into me. "I can't believe I left them Koehali. But I had to go."

I nodded "Its ok Lusio, I'm sure they understand why you had to leave."

I patted his back, he shoved off me kind of violently. "No dude you don't understand I left them there! My sisters…their perfect they need to be protected. Something could happen to them and I would never know."

He continued rambling like this until finally he came to the part where he was trying to make his point.

"I had gotten a guitar after our parents died to help my sisters out. They liked it so much that we would all sing together. After a while people from our neighborhood heard our music and would listen to us more than the radio. My little sister, Kalynn it helped her come out of her shell again. She couldn't sing but she was talking to people again and they were giving us money. So, she handled that. Now dude if we ever get some leave and go back to Freeside I will defiantly introduce you to them. You're a cool guy. I would like you to meet them." He stopped there and gave me a stupid grin.

I just stared at him waiting. "What about the other sister though?" I finally asked.

"Oh!" Lusio exclaimed and jumped up haphazardly.

I stared up at him worried he might fall. But no he jiggled a bit and started singing to "Big Iron" He held out his hand to me and we sang together. After that was done we slumped down.

"Ok the other one. I don't know man…She's something else. She's fire." He started looking back up at those stars again.

I was actually intrigued for a moment. "Fire? Well, that's an interesting way to put your sister." I asked him handing him a bottle.

He took a deep gulped and belched. "Aponi." He breathed out.

I was hooked. With a name like that I was already falling in love. "And?" Shouldering him.

"I know she's my sister and all, but she's my princess. I will never trust any guy with her. She has a strong personality, and a face to bring down nations."

"Wow, dude that's a little creepy." I informed him, scooting away.

He wiggled out his arms at me "You don't even know man! When she sang, I swear to god that's the only reason people stopped. Not for my guitar or Kay's pretty sales pitches. No, it was all for her. She sang like an angel dropped on earth." I saw the tears welling up, heard the clutch stop his voice. "God, man I miss them so much." He tried not showing it but I knew he wanted to cry.

I just patted him his back. "They sound like wonderful women. I'm sure their proud of what you're doing out here for them." I told him trying to get the mood light again.

He nodded understanding finally that he wasn't a bad guy. "You know…I would let you be there for them. I trust you man." He whispered to me before finally flopping down on my bed roll fast asleep.

I rolled my eyes at him and just let him sleep there. After hearing about his sister Aponi I quickly asked more about her from him. He even sometimes let me read her letters to him. From what I gather she was a very sweet and loving girl. She did work for the Followers of the Apocalypse.

I knew of the group they were quite the opposite of every other group out there. Instead of rune everything more and killing others. They were trying to get civilization back on its feet. The same thing we were doing in the NCR. But instead of telling people how to run their lives, they set up clinics and had traveling doctors. I though what his sisters were trying to do seemed a little more noble then what the NCR did. However, I can't say much I choose to join them.

Something in me though knew I wouldn't be staying for much longer. I just never realize how quickly it would actually come. At first I didn't do anything about keeping Lusio's promise. I let the NCR notice the girls and that was that. But the guilt ate at me. I knew I had to do something, but what? On a sleepless night I left the outpost with a bottle of whiskey, already a little drunk. I knew I shouldn't be out by myself when I was as intoxicated as I was. However, I wanted to see my friend. Lusio had a weird lust for the stars. He would tell me all these crazy stories about the constellation. I loved listening to them, and wanted to badly to hear one more story.

"Lusio! Come on man! Come back please." I shouted out at the cold wind.

I didn't care who or what heard me. I wanted him to hear me. I wanted him to come back.

"Lusio, man…we…fuck you were supposed to introduce me to Aponi. God you talk about her all the time." I swaggered a little on a loose rock but continued on with my rant. "Why? Why wasn't I faster? I could have saved you. But I was a fuck. I'm always a fuck up and now I lost best friend. My brother. You were my only family. What do you want me to do!?"

This time I finally did lose my balance and fell flat on my face. Now my nose was bleeding, I got a busted lip, the whiskey bottle was broken. The tears rolled down my cheeks as I looked up at the blurred stars. The wind blew over me cooling my hot face and drying the tears away. I laid there for I don't how long listening to the sounds of the night. Wolves howling to the north. Some weird crackling noise coming from the old highway pass, which I was sure it was only ants. Some gunshots went off in the distances once in a while. I was at a point where I didn't care to pay attention to my surroundings.

I didn't have many friends here at the Outpost. I honestly didn't get along with a lot of people because I didn't like the way everyone treated the people who was on this land before us. Lusio always silenced me about it, saying there was nothing that can be done. But now that he was gone my mouth flew off so fast about a many of different things. I knew what I was doing was wrong, but what could I do anymore?

As if someone was listening to my thoughts I started to her a voice on the wind. It was deep and raspy. Sounded like a man's voice singing my name

"Koehali…."

It freaked me out, jumping up I scanned the area trying to stop myself from going crossed eyed. The voice was still there it wasn't singing my name no more but actually singing a song. I knew it too. It was Peggy lee's 'Johnny guitar'.

"Lusio?" I called out.

I don't know why but for some reason the voice sound like his. In my delirious state I started following the voice. It was fading in and out but I still followed it. Stumbling over what felt like the whole of the Mojave Deseret in my drunken state. The singing finally stop and my head cleared up a little bit. Looking around I realize that I came to the spot where Lusio died.

"Really!? This is what you wanted to show me?" I yelled out to the cold night.

But nothing responded, not even the echo of my voice. It felt like the wind held still. Then, right in front of me, was Lusio. Not bloodied or anything but just as how I remembered him before that day. He looked so real I step over to him, my hand out stretch to feel him, but I tripped over a large rock.

"oof!" I thought I was going to fall through him but in fact he caught me.

"You know it's normally me who can't hold their liquor." He chuckled helping me back to my feet.

I looked at him crazed eyed. I couldn't believe he was right here standing before me again. I squeezed his arm a couple of times and he smiled down at me kindly and took a hold of my hand.

"Hey you had a promise to keep, remember?" He got right into my guilty layer.

I pulled back and ran a hand through my clean shaven hair.

"Yeah I know…I just don't know man. What if they don't take to me?" I told him unsure about the whole thing.

Lusio shook his head and looked up at those stars. "You don't belong in to the NCR. Never did. You have your own thing right now. Something I never did. You have family Koehali. My sisters. I told them you would be coming. Don't make my words a lie now." Lusio smiled back down at me.

Just as fast he came, he was gone. I stood there for what seemed like forever trying to make sense out of what Lusio had just told me. Finally realizing that everything was actually back to normal I went back up to the Outpost completely leveled headed. I gave Ranger Jackson a piece of my mind. Then packed up with my things, I left for New Vegas. For the girls. I don't know how long it was going to take me and I didn't care. All I knew was that Lusio was right. They were my family now. The family I always needed and never had. It was them.


	3. Aponi That's My Hero?

I was awake before my pip boy alarm clock went off. Turing the sound down, I gathered my things and silently walked out of the store. Stopping to watch the snoring man in his bed roll I realize we never got each other's names. For some reason that actually got to me. Normally I didn't care to remember people's names because I would train them and they would be out of my life. But this person, I felt a weird connection from him from the beginning. I didn't even know how to explain this feeling, all I knew is that I have in fact seen this man before. No matter what the man actually told me last night. I knew he was lying about it.

I left the station and started down the road. It was quiet, only the coolness of dawn trying to get into my duster was annoying me. I stopped and button it up when I heard someone cackling behind the large graffiti covered billboard in front of me. I quickly turned on the VR in my helmet and readied my Assault Carbine. The man that belonged to the loud, obnoxious cackled came out with about five others. They all had the emblem of the jackal on their jackets and armor.

Even though I have dealt with multiple gangs in the Mojave. But, I knew the two most dangerous gangs were the Fiends and Jackals. I put the gun up and aim it straight at the leader. There was no reasoning with these people. They strived for killing and pilfering. So, aiming my rifle at the ugliest one, I let out three blasts all in the middle of chest. I didn't realized, however, that these guys were upgraded then the normal thugs I miss with.

This guy had on some kind of metal armor. The others as well didn't wear any lame leather armor or waster clothes. He looked down at his armor checking himself and found nothing had happened my bullets bounce off of him like nothing. He chuckled again and motion for the others to ready themselves. Which of course they even had rifles like mine. And some energy weapons.

I was out numbered. Running the other way I hid behind an over hanged cliff and felt the bullets whiz pass me. The noise luckily was muffled in my helmet. I stood there weighing my options, there was six of them and one of me. They had much better armor then I had counted on. But, I had my ranger gear, which was heavy body armor over my duster, so they didn't know what I was packing.

I checked my weapons wishing I had an energy weapon. Looking through my pack, however, I found my anti material rifle. True I hardly used it only because I never been in heavy situations like this. I was a stealth ranger for crying out loud! Sighing I took out the gun hurried and loaded it. The men were still shooting at where I was hiding and the rocks were plinking off of me.

Running out of my spot I pull the trigger and let the bullets fly. Aiming my mark three at a time on the easier ones. I knew it was a long shot, but I got at least two in were their body parts weren't covered. Through the ribs and in the legs. That would at least slow them down.

The ones with the energy weapons were aiming down my center. I serpentine my way down the road at them. Trying to make it hard for them to aim at me. But that dang leader got a good shot in the back of my leg. Falling to my knees they came in closer.

I laid down on my stomach pointing up like a sniper, I knew it was a risky move, being a sitting duck. But I also had perfect shot under between the torso and their helmets. Their necks weren't covered. This was where I'm glad I trained harder at a sniper then anything. Aiming at the one closest to me I got him. He gurgled out blood from in his helmet falling to his face the blood already getting everywhere.

I smiled at that, the soreness in my leg was gone as the adrinle from the pain worked through my body. I sucked in my breath and jumped up. I started running to the next one, but over thought my action. I was going to slam the butt of the rifle into him, but instead he shot his laser pistol right into my side.

The burning sensation shot right through me, stopping me in my tracks. I grabbed my side, feeling the blood spilling out. The burn rushing through me. I didn't know what to do this guy was so close to me. He hit me again this time in the chest. Luckily I was in my body armor or it would have hurt more. I still felt the burn trying to reach me, however.

The shot to my side and leg made me fall to my knees. I tried shooting them but they were too fast for me. One of them got me in my right shoulder so I couldn't hold my gun up. That's when my vision started to blur from the blood lost. The one in my side was getting worse, I didn't know how much longer I could handle.

I took off my helmet and aimed without the help of my VR which showed there weak points and percentage I can get. I was now just relaying on my crack shot. I switched sides to my left and got the last two in their ribs. The leader was still up and running towards me now with a burning sword. Who the hell were these guys!?

My eyes closed, arms upright covering my naked head. I heard a crack above my head. Looking up I found the leader inches from me. He just dropped to his knees. I looked down at him in horror as I found what finally stopped him. A bullet hole between the eyes. I sigh with relief as I looked back to find the mysterious man from the gas station only a few yards behind. I couldn't quiet see what he was using but from the sound that gun made and its amazing accuracy I would say it was a .308 sniper rifle.

"That's military." I breathed out.

He started jogging towards me, waving at me as if I couldn't see him. I was still on my knees and I found myself waving back. This was stupid of course he can see me. Quickly stopping myself I started getting up, but with the blood lost, I found myself slipping into darkness. My vision blurred and it felt like someone was pulling a heavy blanket over my eyes. I felt as if I was falling through the world but never felt the heaviness of the ground. I don't think I ever made it there. Looking up I saw the man above me.

"Helios…." I muttered out.

"What? Hey don't talk you're losing blood let me help you." He told me.

I still had some strength in me to wave him off. "No, take me to Helios one." I muttered out louder and pointing behind us.

I couldn't see anything now my whole body was going numb. That's when I realize the burns from the laser rifles were a lot worse than I had first thought. He was yelling something at me, but everything was muffled to me as I slowly felt myself drifting away.

The last thing I could make out from the man was "Don't worry, Aponi…."

He must had said something else but I didn't catch it. I passed out from the over bearing pain. I knew I was in shock there was no fighting this feeling. I let it drift across me like an old friend.

I don't know how long I was out. When I finally woke up the man wasn't there. I was in a make shift medical bay in what I was hoping to be Helios one. This building was once a solar power electric company. It had powered all of the Mojave before the Great War. I was never stationed here, but I knew that the NCR had control over it since they out ran the brotherhood.

I stayed in the bed enjoying the comfort. However, that wasn't going to be for long. I heard some kind of ruckus coming from the hallway, some men yelling and one louder than the rest shooting.

"Let me see her! Why are you keeping me all locked up like I'm a prisoner? We are traveling together! Just talk to her she can vouch for me!"

I quickly sat up in my bed and looked around for my bag. It was no one near me, however. I didn't like what was going on out there. The yelling was coming closer to the door. I jumped out of the bed and rushed over to a closet. As soon as I had closed the closet the room door busted open. I kept the closet opened a cracked and saw four men trying to old back some man in the middle. I finally got a look at his face and it was the same man from the gas station.

"What the hell?" I whispered.

I didn't want to reveal myself yet. Who knows why this man was being held back. But he did have a point. Why would the NCR be keeping him as a prisoner if he brought me in? Thinking back I realize if this man was any sort of threat he would had shown it in the beginning. If he had been lying in the first place then it was my own fault. They had stopped being loud and was looking around the room for me.

"How could you had lose her!? She was wounded for crying out loud!" The man yelled at them.

Two of the solders let go and looked around the room. I had to stifle a giggled because they looked absolutely stupid looking under the beds. My savior did not find me missing very funny, however. He looked utterly scared. I felt really bad for the way they were treating him. I came out from where I was hiding. I felt really exposed because they had taken my clothes off and I was left with a thin cotton gown.

"Ranger Aponi! Why were you in there?" One of the soldiers that was searching for me came over and made sure I was fine.

I swatted him away and stood up straighter. "What are you doing with my rescuer?" I demanded of him.

The soldiers were all privets so I had full authority over them. They felt the tension from me and all stood at salute. The one in front me spoke

"Apologies sir. This man refused to give us his name we didn't know his relations with you." He told me trying not to tremble.

I didn't want to hear his or anyone else's excuses. "All you soldiers are to report to your commanding officer right now and tell them I need to speak with them about the treatment of this man. And leave him here with me, he is of no danger to me." I informed them shoving pass the solider and pushing the other two off the man.

The man before me raised his eyebrows but said nothing. He knew he shouldn't make any objections I was keeping him with me. This man was smart no matter how hard he kept that naïve face on. The soldiers looked at each other but knew they couldn't say anything back so they all scurried out. The man instead of thanking me or anything just brushed passed me and sat down at a chair near my bed.

"What the hell?" I asked him standing in front of him now with my hands curled up in fists on my hips.

"What was that all about? And why are you even still here?" I asked him tapping my bare foot on the cement.

His eyes glowed with mischief, but he kept his face relatively clear of any smile.

"I wanted to make sure you were ok. You got gunned down pretty bad. What made you think you could handle all those jackals by yourself anyway?" He didn't ask me as if he was concern.

It was more as if he was taunting me. I felt the heat rising in my cheeks but I wasn't going to allow him to play around with me like this. I was about to say something back at him when a man and a white lab coat came in.


	4. Koehali Ugh more Past?

"Aponi, you shouldn't be out of bed. Your stiches are still fragile." The man told her coming over swiftly and started checking her vitals.

When I looked up to Aponi her face went pale white. I thought she was going to faint or something so I went over to her. Instead she jumped over to the doctor and gave him a hug. I felt a tug in my gut but quickly pushed it away.

"Guess you guys know each other?" I joked trying to lighten the mood.

It's not as if she would ever like me anyway. Aponi quickly let her grasp go of the man and looked up at me with a surprise stare. Did she think I had disappeared or something?

"Um sorry, yeah this is Ignacio. He was the doctor at the Old Mormon Fort when I was a little girl. Where have you been Ignacio? You just disappeared, why?" Aponi asked the doctor.

She tried her best looking strong. Her emotions failed her and tears welled up in her eyes, her bottom lip sticking out. If I didn't have to keep my identity to her a secret I would have told her that she looked really cute sad. But I knew she wouldn't like it would try her best to stay away from me. So, I just kept my mouth shut and waited for the conversation to continue. Ignacio looked up at me quickly giving me a glare like I couldn't be trusted.

"If you can excuse us, please?" He told me.

I just stared back at him and folded my arms "na, uh. Where ever she goes I go." I told him folding my arms plating my feet down where I was.

The man's eyes narrowed even further. He never stopped looking at me as if I was about to jump on him.

"Aponi, can you ask your friend here to please excuse himself, I don't feel comfortable talking to you in his presence." He informed her.

Wide eyed she looked from me to him and back again. I knew I put her in a difficult position. Honestly I didn't care at this moment. This guy, whoever he was, wasn't going to order me around. We stood there for a minute, I could tell Aponi was nervous. I have been following this woman for the past six months and have never seen her stall on anything.

The first time I met her was when she was still stationed at camp McCarran the main depot for all stationed troops. As soon as I entered that camp I knew who she was from the description her sister gave me. And this woman was full of fire. She was barking orders at some troops. Forcing them to do pushups and running them around like dogs.

"Go, go, go, go!" She was screaming at them.

For some reason this made me laugh. Watching this small woman, yelling at these huge beefy men that could take her down with one hand. I sat a few yards away from the troop and watch as she put them through their excises. Lusio had told me she was a rough person, but I never imaged her like this. The sun was falling behind the camp's wall when Aponi finally stopped her troop. I had watched her for a good couple hours now and I could feel my love for her growing inside of me.

"Line up!" She shouted out at them.

The six men lined up in two rows in front of her. She had a loud booming voice but somehow it still sounded soft and sweet.

"Well, you men are graduating tomorrow, sorry I had to work you guys so hard. I had to do that. I know you will make Ranger. I have faith in all of you to uphold the NCR code and help anyone in need."

Then her voice got softer and I couldn't hear what else she said to the men. They gathered around her and put their arms around each other in a huddle. After a while they broke the huddled and the men went to their tents. But, Aponi had stayed behind and it looked like she was crying.

This was the perfect time to go over there and talked to her. She spotted me as I was coming near her. We locked eyes for a minute and she gave me this look of disgust. As if she couldn't be bothered with someone like myself. Normally looks from people never had any affect over me. But, that look coming from this women I was falling in love with broke me down in to something less than a man. Lusio had warned me she was not a very understanding person, but I hadn't realized that she had already taken away my heart before I could even talked to her. I wanted to just give up on this when I noticed her yelling at some one. Thinking she was in some sort of trouble I rushed over to where she was but stopped short. When I got close enough I heard what was she was yelling about.

"What do you mean I can't even see them graduate their my troop! I trained them, not you, not that jackass we call a commanding officer, me! I don't care about this stupid mission. Ranger Jackson can go ahead and kiss my ass for all I care." She didn't allow the other man to finish, just shoved him out of the way and stormed off.

"God, that woman is trouble…" the man muttered under his breath and walked towards my direction.

I rushed back to the entrance of the camp and just hung out for the night. After that night she left the Camp on her "mission" I watched over her through the months and never saw her fazed by anything. She always rushed into battle head on and never left a man hanging back.

Right now, however, what I was doing had finally caught her off guard. I don't think she had any other emotion besides stubbornness that she could show. I was proven wrong. Aponi fiddled with her hands and looked down to the floor like a shamed child.

"Sir, um…would …please leave the room? I would like to speak to my friend in privet." She informed in a tiny voice.

This side of her was a surprised to me. She became so quiet and mousy. How can a woman who barked orders at fully grown men. Was mean, ruthless and only showed a stone faced to the world suddenly turned into this shy, self-conscious little girl? I didn't give it a second thought though, I knew I put her on the spot and that was unforgiving on my part. With all the wrong moves I was making so far I better start making some better ones to show her who I was.

"No problem Aponi I will just be out in the hallway." I smiled down at her.

As I passed the doctor I gave him a deathly glare. I wanted to tell him that if he so much as tried hurting her, I would be back in the room with my hands on his throat. But, I sept my mouth shut, for her. As soon as I left the room to the hallway I heard Ignacio started up on her.

"If that's the kind of company you're keeping Aponi, then I worry about your sister." He told her in a stern voice.

This man was treating her like a child! However, Aponi's fiery spirit came back

"Hey, you know nothing about him. He saved my life you know. You shouldn't talk bad about people like that, that's not what the Followers teach us." She informed him.

I could just image her face flushed red, her long index finger pointing angrily at the doctor. It made me smile a bit and wished I was in the room watching her. I came to learn that Aponi was a very visual person. I think she hid behind that so people wouldn't get so close to her. It was something I had picked up on her. She would act like this tough person who could take on the world. Late at night, however, she would talk to herself as if she was talking with her siblings. Sometimes when she had to kill people that day she would cry herself to sleep. I knew she didn't like the person she was. It is what you signed up for when you enlist with the NCR.

I drifted away from them talking and watched the coming and goings of many a solders and doctors. I honestly didn't want to listen to the conversation they were having because they seemed very privet with each other. After only a few minutes however the doctor burst through the doors yelling.

"You know Aponi, if I were you, and thank god I'm not, I would think twice about the decisions you have made." With that he stalked off not, even giving me a look.

I was about to say something to the man when Aponi came out to the hallway.

"You're a fucking fake Ignacio! You've forgotten the ideas of the Followers, you all have!" She screamed at him, tears running down her flushed face.

She looked over at me and ran back in the wing, hand over her mouth. I follow her in the wing and found her lying face down on the bed crying. She probably wouldn't accept my help. I walked over to her anyway and sat on the edge of the bed anyway.

"Hey." I said softly not wanting to startle her.

The crying stops suddenly and as she looked up at me her face half hidden behind her main of hair.

"Hi…" She answered meekly.

I couldn't help myself now I reacted automatically. Reaching out I brushed her hair out of her face and placed it behind her ear. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Your nice…I guess you know my name. What's yours?" She asked me.

Her voice still light and soft. I realized this was the real her.

"I'm Koehali." I answered with a smile of my own.

She sat up now looking me straight in the eyes with a smirk.

"I know you said we've never met. But I'm just going to ask it again; are you sure we have never met?" She asked pleadingly.

That piercing stare of hers crushed into my very soul. I looked away, I knew I had to tell her.

"I knew your brother." I finally got out.

I didn't know much else of what I could have told her. I didn't look up at her, I couldn't bare if she didn't believe me. This woman I barely knew and yet I felt like I have known her my whole life held me in her hands. I was hers and how I wish so badly that she was mine. I sat there waiting on her to answer.


	5. Aponi Mysterious Stranger

He knew my brother. This is why I think he looks familiar? I was expecting him to say that we were stationed together or that he was a Follower. But, no, it was nothing like that. He just knew my brother. So, what did that mean to me exactly? My eyes narrowed at him when he finally looked back up at me. His cheeks where red, his eyes were sad. My heart dropped to my gut and I felt bad. But I didn't even do or say anything. He knew I didn't trust him.

"How did you know my brother?" I asked him sitting back on the bed's metal bars.

"We were station together right from the start. We were in the same troop together at Camp McCarran. From there we did our best to always stick to one another. He would show me letters from you and your sister Kalynn. I was with him when he died." He rushed into the story like he had been holding on to it for years.

If he was there when Lusio had died then that was a long time to hold on to something.

"Have you been following me?" I realized then that I have seen him.

Always out in the distant. A tall figure always behind me. Sometimes when I got into a hard fight it seemed as if I had a partner with me. I would find knife wounds in the backs of some raiders. I never gave it much thought. I thought maybe they had inner revolts of their own. But I knew it was strange to always see the wounds so fresh. I watched him closely. He went red again and his eyes flew away.

"I made a promise to Lusio before he died." He informed me in a quiet voice.

I didn't understand why he was being so meek about this.

"What is the matter?" I finally asked him.

He looked up at me startled by my own question.

"You act as if this promise is some unspeakable thing. What exactly did you promise him?" I asked.

I guess the way I asked the question came as a sort of a shock to him.

"It's nothing strange or anything. He told me to watch over you girls as if you were my own family. It was easy finding your sister." Koehali rubbed the back of his neck.

I guess he was getting nervous because it didn't look like he was going to finish his statement. There may have been something else he was hiding but I wasn't going to push it anymore. crawling my way over to him, I put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, whatever it is its fine, you don't need to tell me." It was obviously hard for him to get it off his chest.

It had been a long while since I had some company. I didn't want to push him away.

"Seeing as you are following me I'm headed to Freeside to see my sister. Would you like to be by my side and not just follow me around like a creep?" I asked him really wanting the company.

After the fight I just had with those Jackals I was a little scared to go out alone. If it wasn't for Koehali I would probably be dead. He looked down at me with shocked eyes. But warmed up to the idea and smiled.

"I would love to come with you!" He exclaimed.

It made me giggle how he can be so easily excited.

"When do you think you will start feeling better?" He stood up going over to a set of lockers on the other side of the room.

When he opened it I found all my items was in the locker. I know I shouldn't leave so early after a surgery. But honestly there was nothing for me here. It was a quick job anyway.

"Let's leave now!" I got off the bed and started taking everything of mine out of the locker. "Go grab your things. I will get dressed. Meet me in the front okay?" I told him while already pulling my pants over my dressing gown.

It didn't embarrass me that he was watching while I dressed. Being in the NCR for so long, you get use to undressing in front of the opposite sex. However, something caught him off guard and he ran out of the room without another word. I just shrugged and got ready to leave.

A few minutes later I was standing out front of Helios One with my bag on the cement waiting for Koehali. The sun was behind the Helios One building when Koehali finally emerged from the doors.

"Hey, sorry they gave me a lot issues about leaving." He said giving me a sheepish grin.

Smirking I picked up my bag and nodded my head at him "Come on we got ground to cover, solider." I ordered him.

We put the large power building to our backs and venture out in to the dry lake that kept it hidden from highway 95. Luckily we only had to deal with a few fire ants here and there on the lake. When we finally reached the end of the dry lake we could already see the 188 Trading Post. I noticed that Koehali hadn't spoken a word. I wasn't to go at starting anything so I just kept my mouth shut. If a person needed to talk they will start it. The sun finally fell out of view and we were welcomed by the soft dark blanket of the night. Stars poked out here and there till finally they were all burning brightly down on us. I gazed up at the stars and memories of my brother flooded my mind.


	6. KoehaliAponi Getting to know Each Other

I felt weird now that I was actually traveling with her like a normal person. I spent months following her around. Helping her out, listening to her talk to herself. And yet I felt like I knew nothing about her. Or maybe it's just that she knew nothing about me? I didn't know what to ask her or talk about. Until I noticed she was looking up at the stars. It brought a hard clench to my heart at the memory of Lusio's star gazing.

"You like the stars like Lusio did?" I asked her.

Maybe it was a bad idea to start a conversation about her deceased brother. But, she looked over at me with a full smile and a glint in her eye.

"I was actually talking to Lusio just now." She informed me.

Aponi didn't say it in a strange way. Or anything like that. She was being honest. I spoke with Lusio once in a while when I felt lonely. I knew that she talked to him all the time. I smiled down at her.

"I talk to him sometimes too. He was like a brother to me. I didn't have family, when we met, we stuck to each other like glue. They had a hard time tearing us apart. Our troop leader finally decided that we should just stick together. The rest was history." I told her remembering all the great times we had with each other. "Sure being on missions wasn't so wonderful. But when you are with someone you loved it made it that much better."

Aponi stopped and I looked back at her puzzled face.

"What's the matter?" I asked her feeling that I may have said something wrong.

The I realized what I had said. I wasn't about to correct myself. I did love her brother like my own brother.

"The way you said that was just weird. I'm sorry…but you loved my brother?" She asked.

I knew how she was taking that and it made me chuckled.

"Yes, like a brother of my own. Like I said, I didn't have a family back home." I wanted to roll my eyes at her silliness.

I knew doing something like that would offend her, I smiled instead. Aponi frown and looked down to the ground.

"Oh." She grunted and started walking again.

I didn't know what she meant by that oh. I didn't take it as anything serious so I let it slide.

"I always thought Lusio was…I don't know how to put it." She started out.

I helped her finished it. "Homosexual?"

Yet again Aponi stopped and this time had wide eyes. "Well, I mean he never seemed to show much interest in girls." She got out.

My billowy laugh came out louder then I intended it and it sent the coyotes howling.

"Nah, he was mighty interested in the female specimen. Think about it Aponi, why would Lusio ever tell his little sister about all the woman he liked? Wouldn't that would make you a tad uneasy?" I asked her.

I held out my hand to her so that we could start walking again. As odd as it was she actually took it. Aponi had small palms with long thin fingers. Her hand was cold in mine. It made me smile knowing we were holding hands and for a while we walked in silence like this. We finally got to the 188 over pass. I checked my watched and found that it was only around 10pm.

"Wow, we made it in record time." I exclaimed and started walking some more.

But Aponi dropped my hand and stood looking at the ground.

"What is the matter?" I asked her.

"Koehali, can we stop? I'm not feeling very well." She sounded awful.

What could have happened? I nodded and we went up the road to the top over the over pass. There was a make shift building that had a couple people sitting at the benches. The smelling of grilled and roasting food wafted through the air and I realized how hungry I was.

"Aponi, do you want to eat?" I asked her hoping that would make her feel better.

"Yes." She told me quietly.

She walked off to a table and say down, shoving her back pack off. I worried about her state of health. Maybe it was her wounds?

When I left Koehali's side to sit at the bench my wounds felt as if they were on fire. I thought we were going slow enough that it wouldn't bother me so much. About a quarter of mile away from the trading post they started protesting. I knew I had to sit down and take a breather. Sure I was a little hungry as well, but the pain was so much worse.

I didn't want to worry Koehali, so I figure him getting food would keep his mind away from my wounds. I watched him piddle around waiting for the cook to make our food. Koehali was a very interesting man. So, far as I have seen anyway. He never hesitated in shooting that man that was about to kill me. He pretty much told me he stalked me for months now. I am guessing from that knowledge he was a strong person, but not strong enough to go up to a woman and just talk to her.

Thinking back, however, I probably would had brushed him off anyway. Would have never given a second look, just gone on my way. That was the problem with the dark mood I had been in. The military forced me to leave the troop I had been training. Even though they promised me I was going to be their troop leader. Made me go out on some fool's errand.

After that I had no real reason to go back to Camp McCarran. I stayed away and helped out the towns out on the 95. Clearing the raiders for the merchants. I gave the NCR every excuse to stay away from the Camp. I had to stay away from that Head Ranger who gave me that mission.

Koehali came back with a tray full of some mysterious food. I didn't bother to ask him what it all was. Hold your nose and chow it down is how I learn to eat the wasteland food. We didn't speak for a while. Or more of what it was is that I didn't know what to talk about.

Koehali seemed hell bent to get all the food he could in to his gut. For some reason I sat there watching him eating. I watched as every movement he made seemed so much more than the simple act of feeding himself. I must had looked stupid there because he stopped mid shovel and tilted his head like a confused pup.

"Is something the matter?" He asked food in his mouth. I shook my head and went back to my platter.

"W-we should head on when we are done." I said instead to keep it from that awkward silence.

That seemed mighty hard when I never had anything to say besides to bark orders. Koehali didn't say anything back. He did not bother to look up from his food. Just kept eating and nodded at me. This should have satisfied me immensely. No snappy come back or back talk. Just complete understanding that I was in charged and he had to follow my orders.

It felt wrong, though. I had hoped for something from him. This whole time he was making cracks at me and not following anything I want him to do. But now, it was just silence. And I had no clue how to take this.


	7. Koehali is a doctor?

We sat there in silence while we ate our food. I knew we had to stay here for the night and rest. No matter how much she put on the tough act, Aponi was in no shape to travel at night. When she finally finished her meal I scooped up the trays and threw them away.

"You should stay here and rest a little bit longer. I am going to get our campsite ready." I informed her.

She tried to protest this but couldn't get a word out seeing as I was already walking away. I purchase a large tent from the bartender Kerr. I came back to Aponi who was sitting there, chin in hand tapping her fingers on the table.

"Come on, I got us a tent so that it would be warmer. It's too cold out in the desert." I told her.

Surprisingly she didn't protest or anything. I grabbed her things up and watched as she slowly got up from the table. It was like watching a snail getting up.

"Everything alright with your wounds?"

She nodded silently and her face screwed up as she tried standing up straighter. That immediately made her sit back down. I shook my head at her and put her things in to the tent. Coming back she was again attempting to stand up. I didn't want her to hurt any more then she already was so I scooped her up and took her to the tent. There was a many of protest coming from her but I just laughed and laid her gently on her cot.

"You didn't have to do that. I just needed some time to get up was all." She explained but was all out of breather and breathing harder. She wanted to touch her side but by her face I judged it hurt when touched.

"Why didn't you tell me it started hurting? Let me see what's wrong." I pulled her cot from the side closer to the lantern in the middle and went 'round to the side that was hurting. Aponi tried pulling up her shirt but let out a soft gasp and a moan of pain.

"That won't do. Do you mind if I helped you take it off?" I asked her. My face blushed at the thought of her shirt off and I shook my head to keep a clear mind of things. No time to be thinking dirty thought when the poor girl was in pain.

She looked over at me with a side glance but nodded in agreement. I slide my fingers over the thin material of her shirt and felt the warmth coming off her body. My face became even hotter now as I was finally touching her. I just wished it was different circumstances. Her skin became all bumps because of the cold and my touch. I pulled off the shirt over her head and laid it at her feet. Looking back at her I finally realized why she gave me such a disdainful look. She wasn't wearing a bra. She crossed her arms over her bare chest but even that was hard for because her breast were so large. I could see it hurt as well doing that because it stretched her wound.

"Oh, I-I', sorry. Here put your shirt over them." I stumbled around my words and looked away giving her shirt back.

I was surprised that Aponi took it so slowly from my hands. It made me look back up to her. We locked eyes as she covered her bare chest with the shirt.

"Do you have the supplies to clean it? I think I have some." She whispered, her cheeks a bright red. Her eyes had dislodged from my face and was now looking down at her wound. She picked a little at the bandage.

I picked up my pack and rummage through it getting my med kit out. "I think I have enough to clean this again." I told her.

Gently I started unwrapping her from the bandage. She held on to my shoulder as I did this as she did not have the strength to stay up. I figured I would do a standard tape and bandage. The wrap around kind seemed to be causing her more pain then good. I laid her back down and she squeezed her eyes shut, I could see tears rolling down her cheeks. I wiped off the tears and she looked over at me more tears rolling. She didn't looked mad or anything like that. She had a look of pure fright.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. I took some med classes in the NCR. Don't look if you don't want to." I told her as I rubbed her head hoping that would calm her down.

It seemed as though it had because she nodded again and looked away. This time her eyes wasn't squeezed shut but instead looked as though she was sleeping. I smiled and looked back down at her wound. The smile quickly faded as I see what the issue was.

The medical unit at Helios One did nothing but clean it up and patched it. They had no idea how to help a plasma wound. The hole was the size of a quarter and green puss was on the edges. It looked as though it was eating away at her flesh. Now I know why it was hurting so much. I took out some tweezers and a small bowl and begin picking the ooze off of her. She flinched every time I touched it but didn't move all that bad. I cooed "It's going to be okay" and "almost done" after every flinch she did. It was so automatic for me. She clutched the pillow hard trying her best from screaming out.

After that was done I put on some military grade ointment to help with the healing, something they should had done. Maybe they didn't have these supplies? I must be carrying a whole hospital if I had things like this and they didn't. The hole was already getting smaller as a bit of a scab was finally forming. With all that ooze off of it the blood could come in and do its work.

The wound was still too large for it to stay this way. I took out my stitching supplies and started to sew the hole up. I finally got the last piece in and looked up at Aponi. She was breathing hard and looked to be fast asleep. With all that pain she was going through her body probably gave out and forced her to sleep. I sighed in relief at this.

I taped on a large bandage and covered her in the wool blanket I had found in her pack. It was a very interesting design. One side was made of some type of animal fur, it was a dark grey and speckled with black. On the other side was just normal fabric, but in a weird designed he had never seen before. It was a bright azure blue with black, orange and yellow zig zags, diamonds and stripes. It was a rather pretty blanket to be carrying around with you. Maybe it reminded her of home.

I cleaned up the medical supplies and took my pack over to my own cot. I wanted to get to sleeping already. Performing a surgery like that really took a toll on me. But, I was so pumped with energy at the same time that I wanted to go out and do something as well. After a few minutes of just tossing and turning I finally decided to get up and leave the tent. She should be fine by herself surrounded by NCR.

I walked around the camp getting the feel of the land and people. I got to the end of the bridge and found myself looking up at the stars again.

"Hey, I found her buddy. I hope I'm finally doing right by you now." I told the night sky. A shooting start whizzed by and I got excited for a brief moment. Maybe he was listening? I chucked at the thought and went back to the tent. I was finally drowsy enough that I fell right to sleep.


	8. Aponi Stop dying already!

The morning hadn't even begun when I finally woke up from my dazed slumber. My side felt as though it was on fire and there was a horrible stab happening every time I breather. That was better than the feeling of death crawling up your butt, however.

I sat up and felt a tinge of that stabbing happening again but I had to get through it. I had to get to Freeside no matter what. This stupid wound wasn't going to get to me. Besides once I got there the Followers would just patch me up better. Koehali was good and all, but nothing compared to the teachings of the Followers.

I stumbled a few times but stayed quiet so as to not wake Koehali slumbering in his cot. He looked so peaceful. Sleep is the only time a Ranger gets some quiet. I left the tent and embraced the night's chilled air. Walking to the desecrated military jeep I leaned against it and watched as the sun grew brighter as a new day ascended upon us.

"Beautiful sunrise, isn't it?" A woman coming up to my right said to me. She had a long face with a big smile plastered on it. Her eyes were almond and brown. She had short brown hair and wore a long boring looking tan dress. Looked like it had a hood as well but it was off. Her hair fluttered in the wind.

I smiled back at her. She had a wonderful soft spoken voice. "Yeah, it really is. I'm Aponi. What's your name?" I greeted her sticking me hand out for her to shake. She stuck out a large metal hand instead. I stared at it in disbelief and looked up at her. She was confused and looked back down at the Power Fist.

"Oops sorry about that! My name is Veronica. Hey, what are your feelings about the Brotherhood of Steele?" She quickly changed hands and we were shaking correctly now.

I chuckled at her clumsiness and gave her a sideways glance. "I don't really have a thought about people who stay underground. They don't do no harm on nobody so I suppose they are okay in my book." I told her.

She smiled at this and nodded in agreement. It was an odd question but maybe she was just looking for a bit of conversation?

"Why do you ask that, Veronica?" I asked her back. Sometimes weird questions bothered me.

Veronica only shrugged and looked back at the sunrise. "Only wondering. Do you travel a lot?" She asked some more.

Well, if this girl wanted to talk then by all means let's talk. We both sat up on the old jeep and was exchanging words and having laughs about a good many things. The sun was up and warming up the land by the time Koehali stuck his head out. He looked over at me and I waved back at him. He started walking over to us.

"Oh, is that the man you are traveling with? So, like are you two together or something?" Her question had gotten a lot more personable when I mention the man I was traveling with.

It didn't help him much either when that was the first thing he heard when he walked up to us. "Uh, no of course not. We are just traveling together is all." I laughed.

I stopped laughing as soon as I saw koehali's face red and sadden. Gulping I introduced the two. "Koehali, this is Veronica. She's part of the Brotherhood of Steele but asked if she could join with us to see placed. I told her I would wait until you got up to ask."

Koehali and Veronica shook hands but then grabbed my arm quickly. "A word, please?" Without even an answer from me pulled me back to the tent. "Hey, man that wasn't very nice. The least you cou-" But, he put his hand over my mouth.

"Wow, do you know nothing about the Brotherhood, Aponi? Their enemy. We can't trust them. What if she was some sort of spy?" He asked not really expecting an answer.

I scuffed at his irrationalness and rolled my eyes. "Wow, yourself big guy. Jump to conclusions much? Before you start passing judgements how about you actually listen to a person talk for once? She doesn't like it down in her hole and wants to see what the world is like. She is even willing to come with us to Freeside and help out as well." I crossed my arms and felt my face burn.

I really didn't like the way he was being rude to someone he didn't know. The thought crossed my mind slowly as we both stared at each other. My brows unfurrow and I looked down at my feet.

"W-what's the matter?" He asked me.

I could feel him closer to me. We were barely touching but I wanted to feel his skin again on me. But, in so much different ways then last night. I shook my head at the thought, this was not the time to be thinking of that! I told myself. I looked up at him, his wonderful blue eyes concerned.

"Give her a chance. She's really nice." I told him.

He signed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Okay, for you I will." He told me.

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. I left the tent and told Veronica the good news.

"Oh, awesome! Let me get my pack. When do you want to leave?" She asked me as I walked with her to her belongings.

"Soon is fine with me. Meet us back at our tent okay?" And I left her.

When I entered the tent Koehali already had his things at the end of his cot and was busy folding up my blanket.

"Oh, I got that!" I told him,

He didn't stop what he was doing just moved slightly as we both fixed up my belongings. He helped me with my pack and got his own. Veronica was waiting for us outside.

"Already!?" She squealed with such excitement that it actually made me feel rather pumped as well.

We all headed out North, staying on the broken highway path. It was the safest route now getting to New Vegas. Veronica was the chattiest companion to have. After all my years of traveling alone it was rather nice to meet someone who was so fun to talk with. And a girl to boot. Sure men are fun and all, but nothing beats the simple ways of women talk. It reminded me of when Kalynn and I would stay up late at night and talk about nothing but the day or even of our futures.

We straight on this path, having a pit stop at the Grub n' Glup Rest Stop for the afternoon. But, we were making some good way before we were suddenly ambushed by some Tribals. These raiders were clad in barely any armor but they were packed with laser weapons. Already being shot once was enough, so this had to go down fast.

Veronica went full force on them seeing as how the only weapon she had was that Power Fist. I had tried giving her a gun of my own earlier but she had refused. Saying she was much better with her hands. Watching her now I understood what she meant. She punch the living death in to those Tribals. I almost wanted to sit back and cheer her on but I had to give her coverage.

Because of my injuries Koehali forced me to stay back and be sniper for them. So, that's what I did. I honed in on any stragglers and took them down. There was only 3 more to deal with and Koehali took them all down with his Assault Carbine. I thought that was a little over kill but I guess it worked. The two were coming back at me as I was packing my gun back up.

When I looked back up they were screaming for some reason and running towards me. I looked around searching for the danger and tried pulling my gun back out. But, I was too slow. The last thing I saw was something big over shadowing me and large talons on my face. It grabbed me up and I couldn't breathe.

I looked down at my captor and felt death on my side. Literally it was a Deathclaw. It's scream was hot and the smell of rotted meat made me feel faint. But, bad breath wasn't what knocked me out. The Deathclaw threw me across the way more than 10 feet to where I was and I slammed in to a building. My head knocked in to the stone brick and it was lights out for me.

I wasn't completely unconscious. I came in and out of it. Watching Koehali shooting the beast. Veronica jumping on top of it and punching the shit out of it. There was so much screaming and blood. Then suddenly silence. And I felt Koehali scooping me up again like a little girl. I tried protesting to just make him laugh. To let him know I was okay. But, I slipped father in to my Abyss.

"Don't worry, Aponi. I will get you to your sister." I knew this was a promise. He didn't think I heard it. I will always remember it.


	9. Did the plot just get more complicated?

p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"It all happened in a blur. One moment Veronica and I was heading back to Aponi. Laughing and talking, next moment Aponi was 10 feet above the ground in a death grip with a Deathclaw. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"I ran as fast as I could to her but as I started shooting at the Deathclaw he threw her against a nearby building. She was out cold. There was no time to check her. Veronica and I had to get rid of this beast first. Veronica had the upper hand on the giant thing being fast and agile. She climb on the beast's back and started pounding in to him with her power fist. I used my anti-material rifle on the infernal lizard. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"It was a long bloodied battled but the Deathclaw thumped to the ground with a low grunted growl escaping his lips. Veronica ran up to Aponi and checked her eyes. Aponi said something but I couldn't understand her. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""I think Freeside's gates are over there to the right. Don't worry, Aponi. I will get you to your sister." I promised her. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"Veronica carried Aponi's belongings as I got span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanher. For the rest of the day it was smooth sailing from there. We finally reached the North gate and some greaser types came out of a makeshift metal hut. They were armed but did not pull their guns out./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Hey, there what's going on here?" The leader of the three asked. He looked rather concerned at Aponi and didn't say anything else to us. "Let them get past. They have wounded. Do you need directions to a medical place?" I never found anyone in the wastes as nice is this guy before. I figured I should ask./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Yeah, we are looking for the Followers place. Do you know where it is at?" I asked them. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"The geaser nodded. "Yeah, Get in to town and follow the main row till the second intersection. Turn right from there. It's the one with the high brick walls and the big wooden doors. Hard to miss."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"We nodded thanks and head through the gate. It was like any other broken down city in New Vegas. Large half demolished buildings scattered everywhere. Homeless people walking the upturn streets looking for handouts. We followed the main road and found ourselves exactly where we needed to be. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Open up we need help!" I yelled at the wooden doors as Veronica pounded on the door. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"A much smaller door opened to the right of us and a man in a white lab coat poked his head out. "Door is open you guys. Come on in." he informed us with a friendly smile. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"I raised my eyebrows at Veronica, but she just shrugged and followed the man in. The Fort was a huge, open courtyard and large white tents scattered along the edges. In front of the doors was a little post with two people sitting at a desk. They were in circled by military sandbags. We went up to them, one of the people sitting there was a woman with a mohawke styled hair and a long sad face. The other one was a ghoul woman wearing a black style cowboy out fit and black cowboy hat./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Something we could help you with, Sir?" The normal woman asked getting up perturbed to look at Aponi. But, she stopped, and then quickly ran up to us looking at her laying in my arms. "W-what happened to her?" She asked me her voice shaking. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""We were attacked by a Deathclaw. She was picked up and slammed in to a building. I think she has a concussion, but she has had other injuries in the past few days as well." I told her./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"The woman was already flagging down two other men who were coming with a handheld stretcher. They laid it near me and offered to take her to it. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""We need to get her in the surgery room to see what we can do. Can we take her from here? You are welcome to stay in the tents for however long it takes us to help her." She told Veronica and I in the most friendly voice she could without also sounding like she suddenly got sight of a ghost as well./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Well, thank you for that. We will wait." Veronica told the woman. The Woman and two men left with Aponi to a door at the side tower./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"Veronica went to the nearest tent that was close to that tower as well. As for me, I didn't know what to do with myself. I've gotten her this far but she's so hurt that I didn't think she would be able to see her sister. I decided I should at least find Kalynn and bring her to Aponi. The ghoul woman looked mighty scary, but if she was guarding this place she shouldn't be as bad to talk to as to look at. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"I walked back over to the woman and waved at her. "Howdy there, I am looking for a member of this place. Her name is Kalynn Drage. Name ring a bell?" I asked the woman with a friendly smile. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"The woman didn't return my smile but looked at me with a worse scowl then she begin with, if that was even possible. "And who might you be exactly? And who was that half dead woman you brought up here that got Farkas in a tizzy." She replied back spitting out a bit of tobacco./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""That half dead woman with Farkas is Kalynn's sister. I was escorting her and we got ambushed. Aponi ther-"The ghoul stood up at the mention of Aponi's name. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""By gum that was Aponi? I hadn't seen her for over five years now. What she gotten herself in to?" She asked me in surprised. Then she shook her head sadly. "I'm afraid Kalyn has been missing, young man. She's been gone for almost two weeks now." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"I stood there shocked out of my mind. Kalynn's missing? How am I going to tell Aponi this? "What happened, how do you know she's missing?" I asked the ghoul. She motion me to follow her to the tent on the far end of the compound. We entered it and she sat at a tiny table and chairs in the middle of the tent. I sat with her and she took out a cigarette. She offered me one and I happily welcomed it. We took a drag from the sticks and she started up again./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""About a couple of months ago Kalynn started acting real strange like. She kept going up to the King's place a few times a week and bringing back samples. To test them. I figured she was doing some medical stuff with the King's because she was always trying to help people. And then about a month ago she's leaving at night and was always looking around her like someone was following her. Every day she looked scared out of her mind. She never would talk to me about any of it. I wanted to follow her but I'm the only guard here, I couldn't leave the followers just cause one of their doctors was being sketchy." She stopped then and looked like she was crying. But, with no tear ducts anymore and half a decayed face it was really hard to tell with ghouls./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""And then one night she just didn't come back at all. She had told me she wrote a letter to Aponi and was going to drop it off. Couple hours later she still hadn't come back. Then morning came and she was still gone. That, right there, I knew something fishy had happened. I tired telling Julie about it, but wouldn't listen. Has no time to go chasing after people if they got themselves in the middle of something. So, that's where I'm at boy. Sitting her on my hands cause Julie won't let me leave. If you want to bother yourself with finding Kalynn please do so. I suggest speaking to the Kings seeing as they were the most involved." She finished herself smoking the last of her cigarette. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"Koehali had no more words for the ghoul so he left her at the tent and went straight for Veronica./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Hey, I need for you to stay here. I have to go out and talk to some people. I will be back by sundown." And started to leave but Veronica got a hold of his coat./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Slow down there, bucko. Where are you off to? Don't you want to wait till Aponi is up?" She asked him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""I have to do this now or it will never get done. If Aponi wakes before I am back just let her know I am coming back, okay?" He asked her, looking a little more urgent then before. He had no time to waste./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"Veronica nodded and let him go without another word. Koehali left the compound without any more interruptions. He walked briskly down the ruined street and then realized he had no idea where this King's place could be. Koehali spotted a kid across the block that was shouting out advertisements for a local store. He went over to him./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Hey, kid, you ever heard of a place called the King's? Is it around here?" He asked the kid./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"The kid looked up at Koehali and gave him a sly smile. "Why of course I do! It'll cost you a few bottle caps, though!"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"Koehali scrunched up his nose at the kid's greediness but didn't want to argue. He had no other choice. "How much you asking for?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"The kid's smile got wider now. "150 cause it isn't my job to tell people where other places are." He snickered./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"Koehali rolled his eyes and handed the kid his caps. He had no time to argue. "Thanks mister! Just go through the blue gate and it's the first building you see with King Academy on its sign! Big bright lights you can miss it." The kid then ran off. No doubt to spend his newly found caps. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"Koehali trudge on through the blue gates and found more decayed buildings and people wandering the streets. Nothing changed. But, it was as easy to find the building he needed just like the kid said. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"When he got to the building he walked in and was greeted by a few men playing some sort of gambling game. They didn't take noticed of Koehali except for one. He was a short man with a long face that seemed to have a permeant scowl. He had horribly greasy hair that was combed in a ridicules pompadour. Koehali rolled his eyes at the man who he towered a good 2 feet taller then and smirked at his tough guy look. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Hey there, punk. What brings you here to the King's domain?" The short man chuckled at his own hilarious joke. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"Koehali just stood there sizing up the short man. He seemed to think he was in charge. But, he doubt he was a leader of anything. Just a low life guard. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""I'm here looking for the King, I guess. I have some business with him concerning a girl he had hired. Can I speak to him?" He asked in his most pleasing, let-me-butter-you-up voice. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"The short man didn't take the bait, however. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""The King don't have to hire no tweaked out bitch for pleasure. Woman come crawling to just have a chance to suck his di-"/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanKoehali shoved the man up on to the wall before he had a chance to finish his sleazy remark. Teeth clenched, fist bawled. The other men, now interested in a fight, stood up quickly and started clicking their tongues at his back and taking out their butterfly knives. Koehali didn't pay no mind to them. He knew that he could take them on. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Next words outta of that big mouth of yours better be of you telling me how I can meet the King. You little fucking punk." He grunted to the short man who had now paled under Koehali's sudden rage./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"Koehali let the man down and back up a bit. The other men shrugged but stay with their knives out. Till the short man motion them to hide their weapons. Then they all clicked away and the other men went back to their gambling. Keeping a close eye on this stranger, however. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"The short man shrugged off the encounter from his jacket and snuffed the air like he smelled a bad stench. His faced stay that way. Koehali smirked again, this guy does not let up on the tough guy act./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Be cool, man. I can't just let any do wop in to meet the King. You have to prove yourself." he told Koehali nodding his head to himself as though this was the best way to make Koehali be on his way./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"Koehali sighed and rolled his hand to make the man tell him what he needed to do. He really had no time for this shit./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Cool, man. Get this, the NCR, right, man? They come up in here thinking they can just trample through our turf like no big deal? Forget that man. Now I hear that they went and banged up some local residents. Go get some names so we know who to settle the scores with. I hear their up at the followers hang out." The short man informed him. He swayed from foot to foot as though he couldn't stand still. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"Koehali felt this guy was making shit up but he figured he would humor him and do this favor. Right before negotiating with him of course./span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""If I go and do this insanely stupid request of yours I have your word I get to talk to the King, right?" Koehali asked, feeling that the short man was going to back out. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;""Yeah, man. Totally cool. Come back when you get me those NCR names. I get you a good word in with the King, alright." The short man snickered. Scratching and picking at his face like there was invisible bugs on him. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal"span style="font-size: 14.0pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; color: #76923c; mso-themecolor: accent3; mso-themeshade: 191;"Koehali scowled at him in disgust and swiftly left the dank building. He better do this. He didn't think he had much light left. Koehalis never been to freeside so he didn't know what happened around here. But, if there was thugs like that short man around he didn't think it was a good idea to be doing this kind of stuff at night./span/p


End file.
